Green or Gold
by Ektha
Summary: 17 year-old,Isabella Swan moves to sunny LA with her scatterbrain mother. Lucky for her, she is neighbours to the Cullen Twins. Her only problem is: Green or Gold?
1. Chapter 1

The first time I saw them I was shocked.

No that's the wrong word, I was amazed, stupefied. The lush bronze locks, tinged with gold. Pale white skin, curved pink lips and such defined jaws.

The only difference was the eyes… one had brilliant emerald green orbs and the other, had great glittering gold balls.

Both so captivating, both so endless. I don't know which colour I fell for first, gold or green, green or gold. It really doesn't matter. The problem is that I fell… And I can't seem to get back up.

I swear God had just been laid when he decided Esme Cullen should have twins. He must have been ridiculously happy… maybe he was even a little high. I mean if I decided to put two sex gods on earth I would at least have the decency to put them in different states. But no… God decided on twins.

Twins that oozed confidence and sex appeal. Twins that excelled in school and sport. Twins that were that wonderful mixture of naughty and nice. Twins that every girl dreamed their boyfriend could be like and every boy seemed to envy.

These twins… were my neighbours.

So this is where I think, maybe Dad's inheritance money came to some good use. So I had to move schools, so I had to move houses, so I had to move cities. I was neighbours to twin sex gods.

Oh the fantasies I could have with that.

I chuckled to myself.

"Bella? What are you laughing at?" my mother Renee asked, quite shocked at my happy mood.

I shrugged, half a smile on my face, "Nothing."

Renee looked at me, a curious expression adopted her face and I took a second to soak her in. My mother… straight dirty blonde hair, amazingly thin, defined cheek bones and a face that was always smiling. She looked like she jumped right out of _Footloose_, with her hair long and wild.

"Smiling suits you Bella," she commented, going back to unpacking plates.

I tilted my head at that obscene thought… "How so?"

"It makes you look even more beautiful."

I snorted at that thought, with my dead white skin, brown eyes and simply brown hair I wasn't exactly beautiful. Sure I wasn't ugly… I just wasn't outrageously pretty. I looked like my father.

Shrugging off those thoughts I turned back to my mother. "I'm going to unpack my bedroom," I said.

"Sure baby, don't forget to get your textbooks from the car."

I yelled a reply over my shoulder while skipping off to my room. No jokes, the house was big enough to skip in.

After my Dad died last year my mother had inherited a shitload of money. Considering he was always in love with her and she was half way across the country with his only child, whom he only met once or twice, I say he gave her too much. Not that I'm complaining of course.

I made my way across the hall, painted light beige with matching carpets. Climbing the stairs I looked out of the glass windows overlooking the backyard, and thus the Cullen's too. Walking up the stairs I actually realised how little privacy there was. If they were to look over here they would see me, as clear as day.

I hurried up to my room only to realise I had a similar problem. My wall to roof windows faced the same way as the stair windows did.

My feeling soon left me as I took a walk around my new room. The carpet was a thick fluffy white, while the walls had been painted a soft lilac. A huge king size bed lay in the middle of the room, a door to the bathroom and walk-in closet on the next wall. In the corner was a great mahogany desk, adorned with a brand new Apple Mac. There was a couch at the foot of the bed, with a plasma TV just to the side of the room. I saw my mother had the builders put in a great book shelf next to the desk which was already filled with all my favourites.

This room was clearly a step up from my cramped, grey room in Forks that could only hold a twin sized bed and a small desk.

I set to work putting up pictures of my friends and I from Forks and La Push. There were tons of Jacob and I on our adventures. The day he took my cliff diving, surfing, and taught me how to ride a motor bike. He was a best friend I was going to miss, although we promised to stay in touch.

The rest were pictures of me and my other friends in and around school. I had been big in writing and acting at my old school, Drama being a brilliant way for me to make plenty of friends. Although as my mother pointed out, the Cullen's were coming over for dinner in the evening and I would have two new friends before I'd even started school.

Yay.

I had seen the Cullen Twins this morning from my room. They had been saying good bye to their mom before getting into their silver Volvo and driving to school.

That had been a very nice wake-up call for me.

"Bella!" Renee called from her room. The house was so large and her bedroom was on the other side that I didn't even hear her clearly.

"Yes mother?" I called, making my way to her room.

"Have you seen my knitted jersey? Or that half-knitted blue scarf? I had them a moment ago…"

I sighed; her latest craze had been knitting. There had been yarn everywhere. "It's in the car!" I yelled, "I'm going to get my textbooks, I'll get it for you!"

She mumbled a "thanks", already preoccupied.

Making my way outside I realise how warm it was. Wearing just jean shorts, converse and a plaid shirt that I shortened to just below my navel I was still comfortable coming outside. Just as I was getting my textbooks I heard a car pull up. A silver Volvo.

I held my breath, peering out above the car trying to get a glimpse of them but the dark tinted windows prevented me. The car stopped for a moment while their gate swung open and then it glided up the drive way.

I couldn't help but feel excited for this evening. The thought of actually meeting these two elusive twins had my nerves tingling.

"Bella! Oh Bella!" Renee screamed.

I lifted my head from Pride and Prejudice at my mother's shrill shrieks.

"Yes mother?"

"I have such terrible news darling!" She exclaimed, rushing into my bedroom, phone clutched to her chest. "The Cullen's just called."

I raised my eyebrows, " Oh really?"

"Yes," She sighed dramatically, "And they can't come over for dinner tonight!"

I put my book down and took a moment for her words to sink in. Translated from Renee talk my mind processed the news as: No sex god twins tonight, so sorry libido.

Sighing I stood up to comfort her, giving her a chaste hug I told her I would make tea and give it to her in her bedroom. Renee has always been prone to drama.

After giving her some tea and shortbread I returned to my room, since I was not going to have two new friends on the first day of school I realised I needed to up my game. Heading to my new walk in closet I was struck with a dilemma, my mom had gotten a personal shopper who had taken my sizes and then bought half of Fashion Week, but I had no idea what to wear. I was wondering in the space, pulling at sleeves and feeling pants. Hmmm... shorts sounds like a good way to start.

Pulling out black ripped shorts I laid them on the couch and decided to tackle finding a shirt. Since moving to Los Angeles I found the weather was decidedly static, warm, with that thought in mind I headed straight for the t-shirts. Oddly enough there were concert tees for concerts I wasn't even alive for, let alone attended, finding a Beatles crop top I tried on my ensemble. Very nice, Isabella.

The impromptu shopping trip in my closet left me feeling rather nervous for tomorrow; I couldn't help but wonder if I would fit in. A pale girl from Phoenix in a city that was full of tanned, toned bodies.

Climbing into bed I fell asleep rather promptly regardless of my insecurities.

I woke up to loud buzzing next to my ear. Turning on my side I noticed my clock read 08h50. _Shit!_ I jumped out of bed and practically skidded into the shower. After the quickest shower of my life I threw my hair into a bun, applied some make-up and threw on my clothes, accompanied with non-descript flats and a tote. After grabbing an apple I shouted out a good bye and rushing into the Mini my mom had bought me.

I arrived at school ten minutes to spare. Jumping out, I grabbed my bag and headed to the front office. I realised I was getting a lot of stares and put my head down expecting my hair to fall in front of it. When nothing happened I remembered my hair was in a bun, I pulled at the hair band, wishing it would slip out easily. Still battling with the hair band I pushed the front office door open with my foot, I heard it bang against the wall but I was too preoccupied with the flipping hair tie. Finally I yanked the thing out muttering a small, "Motherfuck."

Realising where I was I looked up only to be met with three stares. One from an elderly woman sitting behind a counter who looked rather confused. The other two stares... well can you guess. Both from lean bodies, pale skin and thick auburn hair. One, with golden eyes, glanced at me an offered a quick smile. The other, rolled his bright green eyes and turned back to the old lady.

Yep... looked like I had finally met the twin sex gods.


	2. Chapter 2

I hurried to my first class, AP English and sat down in the first empty seat. It happened to be next to a boyish blonde who smiled up at me with blue eyes. _Gah_. What was with LA and eyes, every person I had met had striking eyes of a different colour. Two very distinct ones came to mind – green and gold.

After walking into the office like a true klutz the Cullen twins grabbed some paper and breezed out leaving me with old lady – Mrs. Cope. She gave everything I needed and a motherly pat on the hand, as if she foresaw a disastrous day for me. Well I didn't exactly start it well.

"Hi I'm Mike," the blonde said, grinning broadly at me.

"Hey, I'm Bella."

"Yeah the new girl hey?" I looked at him in surprise and he shrugged, "I work on the school newspaper, we hear these things."

Satisfied he wasn't I stalker I asked, "You guys have a school paper?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Need any help?" I asked. I loved writing, hell if it wasn't such a shaky career I'd probably become a writer myself. Anyway, the paper was a way to write and meet new people.

"Yeah we do! We just lost our sports column writer. You interested?"

I shrugged, "Yeah I know sports well enough, I just can't play them."

He laughed loudly, "You'll be perfect for the job!" He said, touching my forearm.

I smiled tightly and shifted forward, the last thing I needed in this place was a clingy mama's boy.

Class went by pretty fast, I zoned out because we had already covered this section in Forks. I sighed slightly, I missed Forks. I missed my friends, I missed Jacob. Jake and I always had a rather, unclear relationship. We met when we were both twelve, Renee was reconnecting with Billy, Jake's dad. Well, we just clicked. We did everything together that summer and even though we went to different schools I saw Jake on the weekends more than I saw any of my Forks' friends. Then when we were 16 Jake kissed me. We had been roaming First Beach for sand glass and I was tired, we sat down for a while cuddling against the cold and the next thing I know we were kissing. We were kind of together until I found out I was moving. I mean the whole thing was casual, we kissed and fondled now and then but there were never any labels, so when I found out I was moving we just kind of stopped. I figured we were still friends and even if we were in a relationship it wouldn't work with me being halfway across the country.

The bell rang loudly, bringing me back into reality. As I packed up my books Mike shoved his phone under my nose.

"Could I... Maybe have your number... um for contacting you – you know for the... the paper?"

I suppressed a groan and entered my number into Mike's phone, purely for the paper. He smiled widely and giggled, "Thanks Bella."

I walked out of class, my head buried in a very confusing map of the school. I heard the warning bell go off and picked up speed – until I ran into something very hard. Glancing up I blushed bright red, of course I had run into twin sex god number one.

The one with gold eyes looked down at me, holding my forearms. "I'm so sorry," I stammered. "I should've known where I was going – I just – uhm... I'm new and the school is confusing, plus this bloody map-"

"Is upside down," said Gold Eyes in a deep voice. He chuckled and turned it the right way round.

Blushing again I murmured a thank you. "So you must be Isabella?" he asked, his lips still pulled up in a grin.

I looked up, "What? How did you know?"

He chuckled again, a very deep and rich sound, "I live next door to you."

My eyes widened, _play it cool_, "Oh, are you a Cullen?"

"The one and only," he said.

"But don't you have a twin?" I asked, confused.

"What? How did you know?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow and throwing my words back at me. It took me a second to realise he was joking with me.

"I...My mom was upset you guys couldn't come to dinner," I spluttered out. _Fuck! What did I just say! Seems like Stutterbell is out to play._

He winked, "Oh really," he teased, "Well I guess we'll have to make it up to her."

I nodded my head slowly, "Yeah... I guess." The bell for class rang again and I groaned, "I'm so sorry, I've made you late!"

"No don't worry about it, my mother would be shocked if I had just left you alone, a damsel in distress."

I giggled, "Well thank you for coming to my rescue. Should I even head to Spanish?"

Then he laughed loudly, "You needed to go to Spanish?"

"Yeah," I said, confused.

"It's right next door to English," He chuckled.

Once again I blushed, "Oh great..."

He rubbed my shoulder, "It's fine, and the Spanish teachers are always late." He grinned, "Good thing too, because we can both still make it to class."

I smiled, "Yeah I wouldn't want to start a new school being caught bunking."

He walked ahead, grabbing my hand, "Come on let's get to class."

"Okay, slow down," I giggled, almost tripping over my feet, "Hey wait, what is your name?"

He guided me through the door into the classroom, devoid of a teacher but full of loud teenagers, who all stopped to stare at our entry. "It's Masen," he said.

I nodded, blushing brightly at all the stares. We sat down, I in the middle row and him in the row behind me.

I leant back in my chair, turning slightly to talk to him, "It's just Bella."

He touched a lock of my hair and nodded, "Okay, just Bella."

On my way to lunch I was assaulted by Mike Newton. "Bella come and sit with us!"

I shrugged, "Sure thing." I headed over to the table; Mike introduced me to Angela, head of the newspaper. She was a sweet, small girl who just smiled and told me the times for the newspaper's next meeting. I was then introduced to Lauren and Jessica, both of which ran the gossip column. I could see Jessica was a little put off by the attention I was receiving. A boy named Tyler also said hello while leering at my breasts.

"So Bella, why'd you move all the way here?" Jessica asked loudly.

I shrugged as everyone looked my way, "Uhm... Well my mom wanted a change of scenery."

They all nodded as if they understood completely. Just then Masen walked past the table. I smiled at him and he tugged my hair, "Just Bella," he said as he walked past.

Giggling I turned back to the table to see all eyes on me. "What?"

Jessica shook her head, "Nothing, just didn't know you knew the Cullens. They are a bit of royalty over here." She pointed at the table Masen sat at, "That is the Cullen table, it's the two of them and the very few who are deemed worthy enough to sit with them."

I looked over at the table and noticed how fill it was, there were many boys in lettermen jackets and tall, skinny girls milling around. "Well I live next to the Cullens and Masen seem sweet enough."

Lauren giggled, "Yeah Masen is the sweet one, but Edward..." she trailed off and bit her lip.

"Edward is a bit of a James Dean, he's got the whole rebel without a cause tortured soul going on," Jessica finished.

Filing that piece of information away I got up as the bell rang, "What class do you have now?" Angela asked.

"Biology."

"Well I've got it too, I'll walk you," she offered.

"Thanks," I replied, Angela seemed like a sincere girl.

We walked in silence to Biology. As we entered I walked up to the teacher and he proceeded to fill out the paperwork while Angela took a seat. She waved over once he was done but as I walked over a shy looking boy slid into the seat, blushing when Angela looked his way. _He liked her._

Angela gave me an irritated frown but I just waved her off and sat down at an empty table. The warning bell rung and more people filtered in, just as Mr. Banner was about to close the door in breezed Cullen Number Two.

Glancing around he realised the only empty seat was next to me, huffing loudly he dropped his bags and sat down heavily. _Sorry Mr. Grumpy Pants._

"Okay class; let's get ready to start of Biology! The people sitting next to you will be your lab partner for the year, please remember to always bring your textbooks with you and feel free to ask if you have any questions. Okay? Great."

I looked over at Edward, _my lab partner_, I'm not even going to try hide the fact that I was just a teeny bit excited to be doing something with one of the sexy gods. Smiling I whispered, "Hey, I'm Bel-"

"Yeah, I know Bella Swan," said a deep, velvet voice. His eyes were facing forward and his entire body tense, the tone of his voice was the most shocking – in comparison to Masen is was laced with irritation and superiority.

Raising my eyebrows I turned in my seat and paid attention to Mr. Banner, if this was how Edward was going to act my Biology marks would be sky high – _yeah, because that's what I was worried about, my Biology marks. _

I had to admit that I spent a lot of the class trying to sneak peeks at Edward. He looked so much like Masen it was a little unnerving, but you could definitely see a difference. Besides their striking eye colour difference Edward looked older than Masen. No that wasn't right... He looked more troubled, as if he was carrying around a heavy burden. I could see it in the way he sat, thinking back, even to the way he moved. Jessica was right, he was angry with life.

I glanced at the clock and noticed we had a few more minutes, once this lesson was over we had school assembly, specifically for the first day back, and then it was home time baby.

Edward suddenly shifted in his chair, his eyes sought mine and I was momentarily immersed in them. I felt like I was looking at art, constructed so carefully that every millimetre looked new and unique. He cleared his throat and refocused on him.

"I'm Edward Cullen."

The bell rang out loudly and before I could even open my mouth he was gone, striding out the door. Shaking my head I joined Angela in the walk towards the school auditorium, today needed to end.

I smiled when I closed the front door, entering the warm space only an interior designer could pull off.

"Mom! I'm home!" I called.

When I got no response I meandered over tot kitchen, pulling out an apple I read the bright orange sticky note on the fridge.

_Gone out for some shopping, love you – Renee._

Shaking my head I walked to my room, I glanced over to the Cullen's backyard and saw that the silver Volvo was parked neatly in the driveway but there was no other visible movement. I put on some music, loud enough to drown out my thoughts and checked my e-mail.

Angela had e-mailed me all the events I was to attend; this included the school's first football match of the season this Friday.

Jake had also e-mailed, filling me in on all the gossip and stupid shit happening back home. Well I guess it wasn't home anymore, this huge city with its beautiful people and a warm weather was my new home.

My mom got back just as I finished off the last bit of my homework, laden with shopping bags she asked me to help. Taking the groceries Renee proceeded to inquire about school.

"So how was it? Are the people nice? The teachers? Any cute boys?" she asked, trying hard as ever to be _hip_.

I shrugged, "It was fine, I met the Cullens."

Renee gasped loudly, "Oh gosh! Aren't they just hot hey."

I raised my eye brow at her, "Mom, please don't talk like that."

She had the decency to blush before careening on about the people she met today and all the new recipes she was going to make. I blanched a bit at that thought, Renee and the kitchen didn't have a very good relationship. Back home I would have Jake sneak me pizza after she went to bed just so I ate something that wasn't burnt or swimming in some kind of sauce.

"Hey Mom, you look tired. How about I prepare dinner tonight?"

"Ah, darling that would be perfect. Thanks, I'm going to shower."

After cooking a simple dinner, Renee and I went our separate ways. As much as my Mom tried to be the _friend_, it became exhausting and I soon learnt the art of deflection. I mean she was a great Mom, she wanted the best for me and always made sure I had what I needed, but I couldn't help but feel that she didn't really hear me or see me. She was always on her own mission, whether it involved me or not. I learnt a long time ago that living with Renee meant looking after Renee.

It was Friday and after the long week I had the weekend was welcome, _after the six hours of school of course._ The week had been fairly okay. I was constantly being hit on by Mike that I even contemplated moving places in AP English, actually thinking about it I don't know how Mike even got into AP English.

Anyways as Mike's flirting escalated so did my interaction with Masen. I mean I smile when I think about it. I see him quite often, he's in my Spanish and Gym class and while we just smile at each other at Gym we chat quite a lot in Spanish. He was right when he said the teacher comes late because Masen and I spoke for least twenty minutes every day, and those were probably the funniest parts of my day! He took to calling me Just Bella and it felt nice to have friendly face in the hallways. It's odd, I feel so entirely comfortable with Masen, as if we had been friends for ages. We talk about everything and anything, unlike the other Cullen.

_Gah,_ I now understood exactly what Jessica meant! Edward Cullen was so... so... so frustrating! Unlike his sweet and friendly brother, Edward was stoic whenever I saw him. During Biology he didn't utter a word to me unless the task demanded it and has never said anything remotely polite since he introduced himself. He is so tortured and so silent and so infuriating! He's got under my skin and made me itch, I want it draw some kind of reaction from his stupid, beautiful pink lips that remain so still in my presence. He makes me doubt myself, I'm constantly watching him and seeing how he interacts with other people and if I am the only one that isn't deemed important enough to talk to.

The bell rang signalling the last lesson of the day, Gym. I walked with Jessica to gym and changed into the ridiculously small grey and blue gym clothes the school provided. Walking outside it was sunny and I squinted my eyes, I still wasn't used to the constant sunshine. I kinda missed the rain a little... just a little.

We were then told today was volley ball day, _yay._ I was put in a team with Masen and a whole bunch of people I didn't know. I'm pretty sure most of my gym class knew to avoid my general vicinity after I kicked Mike in the nuts with a soccer ball. But, apparently Edward Cullen liked to win, because every single one of his fucking serves was straight to me. Masen, ever the brave boy, became my personal body guard, hitting back every ball. Again the different between the two of them was astounding. I glanced down at my watch as Edward stood back, ready to serve again. There were only 10 minutes left of school and then my bed and laptop awaited me. _Yeah I hadn't quite entered the social scene in LA,_ although I did have to attend the football game tonight for the paper.

All of a sudden I heard Masen shout my name as a hard, fast volley ball connected with my face. I fell to the floor, hitting my head hard and let out a loose, "Fuck!"

I felt people surround me and someone knelt dozen beside me, pulling away my hands that currently covered my head. "Bella, Bella can you hear me? Are you okay?" I heard Masen asking, sounding very frantic.

"Fuck Edward, why did you do that!"

"Hey! It's not my fault girl can't hit the ball."

I felt Masen tenderly checking my head and I winced, "Let me check," I heard Edward say.

Masen lifted my up slowly till I was sitting and chuckled darkly, "Fuck off Edward."

I finally opened my eyes to see the entire gym class standing around me staring at the faceoff between Edward and Masen. The coach was walking over, shouting for someone to call the nurse.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said quickly, not wanting to cause a scene, let alone a fight between the two brothers.

Masen glanced down, "I'm taking you to the Nurse."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Go to the Nurse, Bella," Edward interjected. I turned to him, raising my eyebrows. Gritting my teeth I took a deep breath and pushed Masen off me as I tried to stand up. Tried being the operative word. I had just reached full height when I swayed and fell straight onto Edward, _just my luck._

He caught me gracefully and held me waist, his hands hot and rough, "Come one I'll take you."

I shook my head, "No, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," I snarked. I felt him tense and take in a deep breath but before he could say anything the Coach intervened.

"Okay someone needs to take you to the Nurse!"

Before anyone could say anything a sweet voice rang out, "I'll take her!" A small girl, barely five feet four stepped forward and smiled. She was pale with black hair that was in a layered bob. She wore the mandatory uniform but actually seemed to pull it off.

"Okay Alice," the Coach said, "Everyone else, you can go get changed."

Alice stepped forward, taking my elbow when Edward spoke, "I've got her Alice."

Instead of backing down like I expected she turned to him, eyebrow raised, "Well Edward I don't care if _you've got her_ because she doesn't want you to have her at this particular moment and you can go on and brood your away out of here." _I liked Alice._

Edward let go of my gently as he scowled at Alice and I kind of missed the contact. "Alice, it's okay I'll take Bella."

I sighed, hating that everyone was speaking for me. "Masen, thanks for the offer but I think I'll just go with Alice."

Masen glanced down and I thought I saw a flicker of hurt there before he smiled, "Okay, well just let me know how you're feeling okay? I'll see you that the football game later."

Edward seemed smug as he walked away, both of them very tense and separate, hopefully they would get over it.

Alice beamed at me, trying to take some of my weight, which was physically impossible for someone so tiny. "Sorry about those two, they have issues."

I smiled, "Yeah I've begun to realise. Thanks for, you know, doing this."

"Of course Bella! In fact I've been wanting to introduce myself forever! I'm Alice Brandon."

"Bella Swan," I said.

"Yeah, I've heard all about you," She giggled.

"All good things I hope," I had never been much for having girlfriends but Alice made me feel so _girly_.

"Yes yes, if Masen can't stop talking about you."

I blushed, _Masen spoke about me!_

We arrived at the Nurse and after she gave me a couple Panado and the clear for tonight's game it was three fifteen. Interrupting Alice's one sided speech on how we should go out sometime, _the girl could talk_, I said, "Alice, thanks for staying. You didn't have to."

"No problem Bella! I have a feeling we are going to be such good friends!"

Grinning I walked into the sunshine, I could get used to not having any rain.

**A/N: So sorry for the late of page breaks in chapter one. Reviews are better than Edward hitting you in the head with a volleyball. **


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